1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an appliance remote control apparatus. It more particularly relates to a simplified apparatus and method for controlling remotely an electronic appliance, such as a television set, radio or other.
2. Background Art
There is no admission that the background art disclosed in this section legally constitutes prior art.
Remote controls are ubiquitous television set accessories. These hand-held units typically possess multiple buttons and features. For example, a television remote control may have in excess of 30 small pushbuttons plus a switch or set of pushbuttons that make all the buttons active either for the television set or a DVD player.
Unfortunately, there is a large segment of television users for whom the complexity of the television remote control may be overwhelming or at least difficult to use. For example, elderly television viewers may be confused by the complexity of the remote control to the point that they cannot readily determine how to turn on their television set, change the channel, or adjust the volume. In this regard, a remote control that has its TV/DVD switch inadvertently set to the “DVD” position may be rendered useless to a television user who does not understand the function of the switch. In this example, pressing the “channel up” button while “DVD” is selected may have no effect on the television set and therefore may well be a source of frustration to the operator. Such a switch may be easily inadvertently set to the “DVD” position by a user who is confused by the remote control and is trying all buttons and switches in an attempt to achieve certain desired basic operation.
As the number of buttons and choices has proliferated on television remote controls, the buttons have necessarily become small so that the remote control unit can be compact and easily held in the hand. Such a large number of small buttons may make reading and comprehending the functions of the many buttons difficult to discern for many users, especially elderly ones.
To make matters worse, an inspection of modern television sets reveals that only the most rudimentary functions may be controllable on the television set front panel, leaving the majority of the control options under exclusive control of the remote control unit. For the sake of styling, the television mounted controls may be so well integrated into the television faceplate that, in many instances, they may be difficult to see and operate by elderly users and others. For example, the “Volume Up” button may be the same color as the surrounding bezel, making it difficult to see. An immobile user may rely on the remote control for physical reasons since it may be difficult for such a user, who may be bedridden or in a wheelchair, to move to the television set.
Simplified television remote controls are known. In one type, exemplified by the Zenith/Magnavox “6 Button Simple TV Remote”, the number of buttons is reduced to six. This reduces the button choices, but it does not differentiate the control appearances by function in any obvious and intuitive way, or in a manner that may be immediately familiar to a person, such as an elderly user or others. The Zenith/Magnavox unit contains a pre-stored data base of remote control codes sorted by television brand and model number, one of which must be selected by some preparatory procedure. A common problem with these “universal” remotes is that they may not internally contain all possible codes, perhaps omitting the one which the user may desire.
Another example, the “Oversized TV Remote Control” simply makes the entire unit larger in size, allowing for larger buttons. Such a unit contains a complex array of buttons, and it does not differentiate control types by their functions or reduce the choices to reduce confusion by the user.